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NTERNATIONAL CONCILIATION 



Published monthly by the 
American Association for International Conciliation 
Entered as" second class matter at New York, N. Y. 
Postoffice, February 23, 1909, underact of July 16, 1894 



THE EAST AND THE WEST 

Address Delivered at the Banquet given by the 

German- Americans of New York in honor of 

Grossadmiral von Koester 

1909 




BY 

SETH LOW 
JANUARY, 1910, No. 26 

American Association for International Conciliation 

Sub-station 84 (501 West 116th Street) 

New York City 



MonograjiliV? ' 






The Executive Committee of the Association 
for International Conciliation "wish to arouse the 
interest of'the American people in the progress of 
the movement for promoting international peace 
and relations of comity and good fellowship 
between nations. To this end they print and 
circulate documents giving information as to the 
progress of these movements, in order that 
individual citizens, the newspaper press, and 
organizations of various kinds may have readily 
available accurate information on these subjects. 

For the information of those who are not familiar 
with the work of the Association for International 
Conciliation, a list of its publications will be 
found on page ii. 



THE EAST AND THE WEST 

It is a great pleasure to me to be present this even- 
ing at the Banquet given by the German- Americans of 
New York in honor of Grossadmiral von Koester. I 
am glad to have this opportunity to bear my testimony, 
as one of the members of the Hudson-Fulton Celebra- 
tion Commission, to our very high appreciation of the 
friendly act of the German Emperor in sending as his 
personal representative to this Celebration the dis- 
tinguished gentleman who is your guest of honor to- 
night. The presence of Admiral von Koester has 
added distinction to the Celebration in all its aspects, 
and he will take back with him to Germany, as Prince 
Henry of Prussia did before him, a large measure of 
the esteem and admiration of the people of New York. 
We looked upon his appointment as Special Delegate 
on behalf of Germany, when it was made, as only 
another evidence of the friendly feeling between Ger- 
many and the United States, which has been unbroken, 
and substantially unruffled, during all our history. 
Now that we have had the pleasure of meeting Admiral 
von Koester personally, that which we interpreted at 
first as a very ''friendly act," in the diplomatic sense 
of the word, we now interpret as an exceedingly 
friendly act in its personal significance. For the 
Admiral has charmed by his personality all who have 
come into contact with him. 

Any one who has followed the progress of this Cele- 
3 



bration must have been impressed by the large part 
which has been taken in it by the German-American 
population of New York. I cannot deny myself the 
pleasure of saying, Mr. Chairman, in the presence of 
this company, what everybody knows, that no one has 
done more than yourself to make this Celebration 
what it has been. Many others have co-operated, of 
course, but I think I may say with literal truthfulness, 
that your enthusiasm, your courage, and your untiring 
efforts have inspired us all to do better than otherwise 
we should have done. But beyond all this, which is 
in a certain sense personal and accidental, it cannot 
have escaped notice that, whereas the historical parade 
of Tuesday revealed the cosmopolitan character of the 
population of New York City, the carnival parade of 
Saturday evening, which was of equal magnitude, was 
composed entirely of our fellow-citizens of German, 
Austrian and German-Swiss descent. Three of the 
five concerts given for the entertainment of our guests 
were given by the Liederkranz, the Arion, and the 
United German Singers, those splendid singing societies 
which have done so much for the cause of music in the 
City of New York. In the presence of facts like these, 
it is easy to believe what we are told, that one-third of 
the population of New York City has German blood in 
its veins. 

This suggests a fact in connection with the United 
States which is of the first importance. In most of 
the countries of the world the citizens or subjects are 
such because they have been born citizens or sub- 
jects; but in the United States a very important per- 

4 



centage of the total population are citizens of this 
country as the result of personal choice. It used to 
be the rule, " Once a subject, always a subject;" but, 
largely owing to the influence of the United States, 
the right of the citizen or subject to change his allegi- 
ance is now almost universally admitted. It is because 
of this fact of personal choice, which underlies so 
much of our citizenship, that we of the United States 
would fearlessly trust the honor of our flag to any 
element of our population, even against the country 
of their origin, were the misfortune of a great war to 
overtake us. I can illustrate my thought by an 
instance drawn from the German-American citizenship 
of this City. Dr. Abraham Jacobi is one of the Ger- 
mans who came to this country many years ago as a 
result of the uprisings in the Fatherland of 1848. 
Later in life he became so eminent in his specialty of 
the diseases of children that he received an invitation 
from the University of Berlin to accept that chair in 
the Berlin University, an invitation involving the 
greatest possible honor to its recipient. Dr. Jacobi's 
reply was, that America had given to him his oppor- 
tunity; and that, while he valued the invitation as he 
should, he wished to give the service of his profes- 
sional skill to the country in which, from choice, he 
had made his home. 

On the other hand, it remains true that, precisely 
as, for me, England is my Mother Country, so, for the 
Americans of German descent, Germany is the Father- 
land, and all of us Americans, just because we our- 
selves feel this strong attachment to the country of 

5 



our origin, respect and sympathize with the same 
attachment on the part of our fellow- citizens of 
different descent. Because this is so, we fondly hope 
that all fear of serious misunderstanding between the 
United States and other countries from which our 
people largely come may be for ever dismissed from 
mind; because this mutuality of population, if I may 
call it so, helps to interpret the different nations of the 
world to us, and us to them. For, among nations as 
among individuals, good understanding is the basis of 
good feeling. The fact that here, throughout the 
length and breadth of the land, our citizens of so 
many different origins live together on terms of amity 
and good will, is itself an illustration of what may yet 
be hoped for among the countries of their diverse 
origin, as good understanding takes the place of mis- 
understanding, and good neighborhood takes the place 
of purely formal relationship. 

As a result of the facilities for travel which are 
characteristic of our day, the nations of the modern 
world are being brough-t into contact with each other 
as never before. President Wheeler, of the University 
of California, in a recent speech made at the dinner of 
the American Asiatic Association, pointed out that all 
of the world lying west of the Hydaspes River, the 
point which marked the furthest reach of the conquests 
of Alexander the Great, had developed more or less 
directly under the influence of the civilization of the 
Mediterranean, while all of the world lying beyond the 
Hydaspes — India, China and Japan — had developed, 
until recently, untouched by that civilization; so that 

6 



to-day the East and West are looking into each other's 
eyes after a development that has been different for 
century after century; with a different social order, 
with a different code of morals, with a different litera- 
ture, with a different religious faith: in a word, with 
everything different that tends to make individuality 
in a nation. What will come out of the close contact 
forced upon both East and West by the developments 
of modern life it is impossible to foresee ;-^ but this at 
least is clear, that, if a good understanding is per- 
manently to prevail, it must begin with a recognition 
of this fundamental difference in training. Such a 
recognition must take every serious^difference in point 
of view for granted, and both East and West must try 
to discover, behind these differences in point of view, 
what is fine and admirable in each other's civilization. 
Approached in that spirit, it is reasonable to believe 
that the close contact necessitated between East and 
West, in our modern times, may prove to be for the 
advantage of both. If approached in any other spirit, 
no one can imagine the disastrous consequences that 
may follow. 

What is thus true of the whole West and the whole 
East is partially true as regards the nations of the 
West in their relations with each other. The old 
isolation is gone for ever for every people; and there 
is no greater obligation upon any nation to-day than 
to try to understand, and to enter into sympathy with, 
that which is finest and best in every other nation. I 
know that out of such new contacts of the nations new 
differences of interest will appear; and I know that 

7 



every nation is ready to contend to the utmost for 
that which appears to it to be a matter of vital interest. 
The thought that I wish to present is, that in these 
days of free intercourse between the people of all 
nations, the prosperity of every nation is likely to be 
for the advantage of every other nation. I cannot 
imagine any greater misfortune that can befall man- 
kind than to have any two of the great nations of the 
world feel that their interests necessitate a trial of 
strength with each other. No great nations can fight 
to-day without involving all the other nations of the 
world in the consequences of their struggle more 
directly than ever before. We of the United States, 
I am confident, may be relied upon to do everything 
in our power to develop a world public opinion that 
will powerfully help to maintain the peace of the world. 
I feel very sure, for example, that the invitation from 
the German-Americans of New York City to Admiral 
Seymour and Admiral Hamilton and the officers of the 
British Fleet to be present this evening at this dinner 
in honor of Admiral von Koester is no mere compli- 
ment, due to the etiquette of the occasion. I believe 
that it represents the most sincere hope of the Ger- 
man-American population, not only of New York City 
but of the whole United States, that Germany and 
England and the United States may always live to- 
gether on terms of constantly increasing amity and 
good will. 

In 1893 the eminent German physicist, Von Helm- 
holz, came to America to attend the World's Fair at 
Chicago. While he was my guest in the City of New 

8 



York, Alexander Graham Bell, a Scotchman by birth, 
an American by adoption, came all the way from 
Halifax in order to say to Von Helmholz, as he did in 
my presence, that the invention of the telephone was 
made possible by the investigations into the laws of 
sound which had been made by Von Helmholz in his 
German laboratory. The telephone, therefore, in- 
vented under the Stars and Stripes, by a man born 
under the English flag, and made possible by the re- 
searches of a German, illustrates happily how these 
three nations, by working together, can serve man- 
kind. This one invention ought to be the type of all 
our relationships. Germany and England and the 
United States each contribute to the civilization of the 
twentieth century something that is precious that the 
others cannot give. Springing very largely, though 
not completely, from the same* stock, differences of 
environment have led to differences of result; and the 
world will profit most from the prosperity of all. 

The things and the forces that are seen are temporal. 
It is the things and the forces that are not seen that 
are eternal. The trolley wire attached to loaded cars 
would soon be snapped if the attempt were made to 
haul the cars by direct traction; but that same trolley 
wire can be charged with an invisible force that will 
move all the cars of a great city, loaded to their utmost 
capacity. That, it seems to me, is a just illustration 
of the force of public opinion. It is intangible; it 
cannot be weighed; it cannot be seen; and yet, more 
and more, in every country of the world, whatever be 
its form of government, this intangible public opinion 



is becoming the decisive force that shapes the destiny 
of the peoples. Slowly, if you please, but surely, there 
is developing a public opinion of the world to the bar 
of which every nation must come which breaks the 
peace of the world. My prayer is that the United 
States, and England, my Mother Country, and Ger- 
many, which is your Fatherland, each in its own 
measure, may help powerfully to develop the public 
opinion that one day will bring about for all nations 
that "Pax Humana," which will mean the peace and 
prosperity of the whole w^orld. This gathering of the 
Nations at the Hudson-Fulton Celebration ought 
to be a step, however short, towards this happy 
consummation. 

SETH LOW 



lo 



PUBLICATIONS OF THE 
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INTERNATIONAL CONCILIATION 



1. Program of the Association, by Baron d'Estournelles de Constant. April, 
1907. 

2. Results of the National Arbitration and Peace Congress, by Andrew Car- 
negie. April, 1907. 

3. A League of Peace, by Andrew Carnegie. November, 1907. 

4. The results of the Second Hague Conference, by Baron d'Estournelles de 
Constant and Hon. David Jayne Hill. January, 1908. 

5. The Work of the Second Hague Conference, by James Brown Scott. Jan- 
uary, 1908. 

6. Possibilities of Intellectual Co-operation Between North and South America, 
by L. S. Rowe. April, 1908. 

7. America and Japan, by George Trumbull Ladd. June, 1908. 

8. The Sanction of International Law, by Elihu Root. July, igo8. 

9. The United States and France, by Barrett Wendell. August, 1908. 



ID. 

1908. 



The Approach of the Two Americas, by Joaquim Nabuco. September, 

The United States and Canada, by J. S. Willison. October, 1908. 

The Policy of the United States and Japan in the Far East, November, 



13. European Sobriety in the Presence of the Balkan Crisis, by Charles Austin 
Beard. December, 1908. 

14. The Logic of International Co-operation, by F. W, Hirst. January, igog. 

15. American Ignorance of Oriental Languages, by J. H. DeForest. Feb- 
ruary, 1909. 

16. America and the New Diplomacy, by James Brown Scott. March, igog. 

17. The Delusion of Militarism, by Charles E. Jefferson, April, 1909. 

18. The Causes of War, by Elihu Root, May, 1909. 

19. The United States and China, by Wei-ching Yen. June, igog. 

20. Opening Address at the Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbi- 
tration, by Nicholas Murray Butler. July, igog, 

21. Journalism and International Affairs, by Edward Cary. August, 1909. 

22. Influence of Commerce in the Promotion of International Peace, by John 
Ball Osborne. September, 1909. 

23. The United States and Spain, by Martin Hume. October, igog. 

24. The American Public School as a Factor in International Conciliation, by 
Myra Kelly. November, igog. 

25. Cecil Rhodes and His Scholars as Factors in International Conciliation, 
by F, J, Wylie. December, igog. 

26. The East and the West, by Seth Low. January, 1910, 

A small edition of a monthly bibliography of articles having to 
do with international matters is also published and distributed to 
libraries, magazines and newspapers. 

Up to the limit of the editions printed, any one of the above will 
be sent postpaid upon receipt of a request addressed to the Secretary 
of the American Association for International Conciliation, Post 
Office Sub-Station 84, New York, N. Y. 



Executive Committee 

Nicholas Murray Butler Stephen Henry Olin 

Richard Bartholdt Seth Low 

Lyman Abbott Robert A. Franks 

James Speyer Paul Morton 

George Blumenthal 



COUNCIL OF DIRECTION OF THE 
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INTERNATIONAL CONCILIATION 

. Lyman Abbott, New York. 
Charles Francis Adams, Boston. 
Edwin A. Alderman, Charlottesville, Va. 
Charles H. Ames, Boston, Mass. 
Richard Bartholdt, M; C, St. Louis, Mo. 
George Blumenthal, New York. 
Clifton R. Breckenridge, Fokt Smith, Arkansas. 
William J. Bryan, Lincoln, Neb. 
T. E. Burton, Cleveland, Ohio. 
Nicholas Murray Butler, New York. 
Andrew Carnegie, New York. 
Edward Cary, New York. 
Joseph H. Choate, New York. 
Richard H. Dana, Boston, Mass. 
Arthur L. Dasher, Macon, Ga. 
Horace E. Deming, New York, 
Charles W. Eliot, Cambridge, Mass. 
John W. Foster, Washington, D. C. 
Robert A. Franks, Orange, N. J. 
John Arthur Greene, New York. 
James M, Greenwood, Kansas City, Mo. 
Franklin H. Head, Chicago, III. 
William J. Holland, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
Hamilton Holt, New York. 
James L. Houghteling, Chicago, III. 
David Starr Jordan, Stanford University, Cal. 
J. H. KiRKLAND, Nashville, Tenn. 
Adolph Lewisohn, New York. 
Seth Low, New York. 
Clarence H. Mackay, New York. 
Theodore Marburg, Baltimore, Md. 
Brander Matthews, New York. 
W. W. Morrow, San Francisco, Cal. 
George B, McClellan, New York. 
Paul Morton, New York. 
Levi P. Morton, New York. 
Silas McBee, New York. 
Stephen H. Olin, New York. 
A. V. V. Raymond, Buffalo,. N. Y. 
Ira Remsen, Baltimore, Md. 
James Ford Rhodes, Boston, Mass. 
Howard J. Rogers, Albany, N. Y. 
Elihu Root, Washington, D. C. 
J. G. Schurman, Ithaca, N. Y 
Isaac N. Seligman, New York. 
F. J. V. Skiff, Chicago, III. 
William M. Sloane, New York. 
Albert K. Smiley, Lake Mohonk, N. Y, 
James Speyer, New York. 
Oscar S. Straus, Washington, D. C. 
Mrs. Mary Wood Swift, Berkeley, Cal. 
George W. Taylor, M. C, Demopolis, Ala. 
O. H. Tittman, Washington, D. C. 
W. H. Tolman, New York. 
Benjamin Tkueblood, Boston, Mass. 
Edward Tuck, Paris, France. 
William D. Wheelwright, Portland, Ore. 

CONCILIATION INTERNATIONALE 

iig Rue de la Tour, Paris, France 

President Fondateur, Baron D'Estournelles de Constant 

Member Hague Court, Senator 

Honorary Presidents : Berthelot and Leon Bourgeois, Senators 

Secretaries General : A. Metin and Jules Rais 

Treasurer : Albert Kahn 






IRVING PRESS 

119 and 121 East Thirty-first Street 

New York 



